Demons

Etruscan demons were other-worldly creatures who inhabited the space between the human world and the divine. They had the power to change peoples' destiny and they could be summoned by the priests to work wonders or to predict the future. Etruscan funeral art also shows them torturing the dead.

The demons of Etruscan afterlife and of the supernatural world are often depicted as female winged creatures. Sometimes they are also depicted as the handmaidens or companions of the Etruscan love goddess, Turan.

However most Etruscan demons were spirits from the underworld; they are frequent subjects of Etruscan art during the closing era of their civilization, when the Etruscan cities were being absorbed by Rome, and may reflect the cultural and religious pessimism of the time. Etruscan tomb art described the afterlife as hopeless, joyless ;ace where terrible demons tormented the dead. Etruscan religion apparently made no provision for the reward or punishment of the dead souls; all suffered equally in a dismal afterlife.